An example of a politician's intelligence

Idaho lawmaker asks if women can swallow cameras for gynecology exams, question goes viral
BY Jason Silverstein
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, February 24, 2015, 2:48 AM Idaho Legislature Vito Barbieri, a Republican House Representative in Idaho, went viral for a seemingly clueless question about the female anatomy.
The Internet on Monday helped one Idaho lawmaker learn that women cannot, in fact, swallow objects and have them end up in their vaginas.

That online anatomy lesson came after Idaho state Rep. Vito Barbieri asked during a doctor in public if women can swallow small cameras to help doctors do remote gynecological exams.

Barbieri, a Republican, was part of a three-hour House State Affairs Committee meeting on a bill that would ban doctors from using telecommunication to prescribe abortion-inducing medications.

Dr. Julie Madsen, a physician testifying against the bill, said at the hearing that she’d had some colonoscopy patients swallow small devices to let doctors examine their colons.

To which Barbieri asked: “Can this same procedure then be done in a pregnancy? Swallowing a camera and helping the doctor determine what the situation is?”

Madsen said no, because when women swallow pills, those don’t go to their vaginas.

That seemingly clueless question immediately went viral, with Twitter users take Barbieri to task for his apparent ignorance of the female body.

“NO, MORON LAWMAKER FROM IDAHO! IF A WOMAN INGESTS SOMETHING SOLID IT WILL NOT COME OUT OF THE VAGINA. CHRIST,” user@ICF_19XXwrote.

By the end of the day, Barbieri’s biological blunder question was featured on The Rachel Maddow Show, and his scant Wikipedia page was edited several times to mock him.

"Although not confirmed, it is believed that Barbieri has never taken a biology class in his life ... It's believed that Barbieri was disheartened to learn that women cannot magically expel items they eat out of their vaginas," the online encyclopedia said at one point.

“I was trying to make the point that equalizing a colonoscopy to this particular procedure was apples and oranges,” he said. “So I was asking a rhetorical question that was designed to make her say that they weren’t the same thing, and she did so. It was the response I wanted.”

The bill was passed on a 13-4 party-line vote and will now go to the House of Representatives for a full vote. Barbieri voted in favor of it.

he explained his remarks: "I was being rhetorical, because I was trying to make the point that equalizing a colonoscopy to this particular procedure was apples and oranges... So I was asking a rhetorical question that was designed to make her say that they weren't the same thing, and she did so. It was the response I wanted

well that clears up that

that jacket also looks like one of those maze images that start to move when you stare at them